5 Restaurant Chains Closing Tennessee Locations in 2026

Think of your usual booth at your usual restaurant and the order you could recite by heart.

Maybe it’s the happy hour queso you’ve counted on for years.

Now the door is locked.

Here are some of the restaurant chains shutting down Tennessee locations this year, and where each one went dark.

1. O’Charley’s

O’Charley’s began closing its Middle Tennessee restaurants on Sept. 9, 2026, most of them at 8 p.m. that Wednesday.

The Bellevue restaurant said it could close sooner if it sold out of food.

The chain started in Nashville in 1971, with its first restaurant on 21st Avenue.

Employees told Nashville TV station WSMV that restaurants in Bellevue, Hermitage, Franklin, Lebanon, Manchester, Gallatin, Springfield and Clarksville were closing.

If your usual O’Charley’s was in one of those areas, it was on the list.

If you’re in Knoxville, a sign on the door of the Kingston Pike restaurant said it was closed, according to Knoxville TV station WVLT.

Some locations had already closed by the time WVLT published its story.

WSMV said it was unclear why the locations were closing so abruptly.

Cannae Holdings owns O’Charley’s.

It hadn’t released information about the closings, and the chain’s Facebook and Instagram accounts appeared to be deleted.

Cannae’s most recent financial reports show O’Charley’s sales down about 13% over the past year.

Restaurant Business Online reported that O’Charley’s closed 51 locations in 2023, pointing to changing trade areas and rising costs.

Mississippi TV station WLOX reported that after the chain’s Facebook and Instagram pages were deactivated, customers believed every remaining restaurant was closing.

2. The Melting Pot

The Melting Pot’s Knoxville restaurant on North Central Street closed in late May 2026.

The restaurant had been serving fondue for 31 years.

The Melting Pot said it intends for the restaurant to keep operating under new ownership, according to a May 27 report from Knoxville TV station WATE.

WATE also listed a Gatlinburg Melting Pot among the chain’s other locations, so if you’re planning fondue there, check that restaurant’s status before you go.

If you remember the Melting Pot on 2nd Avenue in Nashville, it closed after the 2020 Christmas Day bombing.

The restaurant announced in January 2026 that its landlord had unexpectedly terminated the lease.

3. Joyland

Joyland, an Alabama burger chain, closed both of its Nashville restaurants over a weekend in July 2026.

You could have ordered at the East Nashville original, which opened in 2020, or at the Sylvan Park restaurant on Charlotte Avenue.

Axios Nashville tied the abrupt closings to a financial crisis at Pihakis Restaurant Group, one of Joyland’s investors.

Joyland thanked customers for their support in a social media post, WSMV reported.

4. Chuy’s

Chuy’s closed its Midtown Nashville restaurant at 1901 Broadway after serving guests through March 27, 2026.

The restaurant ran 15 years.

The Nashville Post reported that parent company Darden had not offered a reason for the closing.

Staff were offered jobs at other Chuy’s and Darden restaurants, the Vanderbilt Hustler reported.

WSMV listed five other area Chuy’s as staying open, two in Nashville on White Bridge Road and Opry Mills Drive and one each in Brentwood, Franklin and Murfreesboro.

If you’re a regular in Brentwood or Franklin, your Chuy’s wasn’t part of the announcement.

One Vanderbilt student and his friends often stopped by for the happy hour half-off queso at the Broadway restaurant, the paper reported.

5. Tupelo Honey

Tupelo Honey announced in early August 2026 that its Warehouse Row restaurant in downtown Chattanooga would close at the end of the month.

NewsChannel 9 reported that the restaurant’s lease was set to end on Aug. 23 and wouldn’t be renewed.

If you’re a regular, the company said it remained committed to serving guests at its other Tupelo Honey locations.

The company also said it was exploring another location in the city but had no set plans yet.

Nashville Independents

Chains weren't the only Nashville restaurants to close in 2026, according to WSMV's June 20 list, so you may have lost a neighborhood favorite too.

Varallo's, a chili parlor that had been open for 119 years, closed in February 2026 after talks with property management fell apart.

Rising costs pushed out others, too: SOUL's Charlotte Pike restaurant closed after its owners pointed to rising operating costs and property taxes.

Its Airport/Antioch restaurant was still open when the list ran.

Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop closed its Nashville shop on March 14, blaming the cost of running a business in the city.

Its Lebanon shop was still in business when the list ran.

Burger UP set Aug. 1 as the last day for its 12 South restaurant after 16 years.

Brothers' Burger Joint in Berry Hill named Oct. 3 as its final day after nine years in business.

Pancho and Lefty's closed both its Melrose and Sylvan Park locations.